Last Easter, I raised baby chicks. This Easter, I’m going eggless.

Do I think eggs are bad for our health or unethical to eat? Nope. Although depending on your egg source, one could argue that certain large-scale egg production facilities are cruel to chickens. And it’s well-known that eggs, especially the yolks, are high in cholesterol. But my situation is far more black & white than that: if I eat eggs, I get terribly sick for at least a week and can’t leave the house for several days afterwards. But Easter is coming, and besides the Christian holiday, it’s all about eggs, which still bring joy to my heart with their perfectly smooth, rounded, life-giving symbol. View full article »

Enjoying winter greens in a smoothie is a tasty way to keep colds away.

I love our green smoothies, and this week in The Free Weekly, our favorite recipe is included so you can try them too! (It doesn’t appear online this week, but you can pick up a copy around Fayetteville and find the recipe inside.) If you have a winter garden, green smoothies are a good way to use up any kind of green you might be growing this month, especially if they’re slightly bitter. The fruit juices make greens taste sweeter, and the avocado turns an “applesauce” texture into “ice cream”! We use a high-speed Vitamix blender, though, and green smoothies are less feasible with standard blenders. It was well worth the investment, and we use our Vitamix several times a week. Blending fruits and veggies in this manner supposedly makes the nutrients more accessible to our bodies, since we don’t chew as much as our ancestors did and can’t break down the cell walls as effectively. Good nutrition, and in particular the nutrients that come from dark leafy greens, is an excellent protection against all those colds circulating in your office or school. Stay healthy!

Check out these recipes for planet-friendly treats!

The latest issue of The Free Weekly is out today, and Making Ripplesis all about baking and goodies that aren’t secretly baddies. Here are some recipes from Ripples to help you get started eating green and baking with organic, fair trade ingredients:

Try baking Solar Cookies with the recipe of your choice! Here’s a how-to video from YouTube.

This soup is perfect for chilly days, and can also be made soy-free!

In this case, we jumped off my dietary restriction boat for two days and used a soy-based, gluten-free cheddar block for vegans. But actually I liked the soup better without the cheddar, when it just tasted of baked potatoes and didn’t come with a side of symptoms. I’m not supposed to be eating soy. So alter it to meet your own needs, and enjoy a thick, hot soup for a cold winter day! View full article »

I love having this for lunch when the weather is warm and I’m in a hurry.

Quinoa mixed into salad from Ozark Natural Foods

Despite the fact that it’s getting cold outside and I’ve switched to quinoa soup instead of salad, I wanted to share this recipe with you and make sure I don’t forget how delicious this was! Part of journey with Ripples has been learning how to eat whole, real food. We aren’t 100% raw, but this year I’ve been eating more fresh foods than ever before. This is how earthbag homes get built and vegetable gardens are sown, rather than the Pizza Hut model I used to be so fond of, which created more medical bills. My dietary choices of a decade ago are part of the reason I’m struggling to be healthy now. I’m hopeful that through recipes like this one, I might acquire the kind of body a country life requires. Or at least a hardier, healthier one. View full article »

Fall into the day with the perfect pancake breakfast!

Ryan & I just discovered the solution to a vegan’s longing for holiday milk flavors: it’s called So Delicious Dairy-Free Pumpkin Spice Coconut Milk (no, it doesn’t taste like coconuts – they mean “coconut milk” like “almond milk” or “cow’s milk” which doesn’t taste like cows, of course!) When combined with our pancake recipe, adapted for the vegan and gluten-free diet, and topped with Bekemeier’s Caramel Apple Butter, this breakfast is perfect for autumn. I ate the last of the pancakes this morning while basking below a sunlit sky sprinkled with falling golden leaves. This made my morning tai chi session very tasty Ripples shares recipes with ya’ll whenever they represent a sustainable, fair trade, or unique experience we’ve had on our journey off-grid. Whether it’s growing cilantro or devouring these pancakes, we want to share what we’ve created and learned. Enjoy! View full article »

Craving a spicy burger, we made these from scratch!

Since I’m now intolerant to Greenhouse Grille’s best black bean burgers in the world, with their tasty crispness that is – trust me – hard to replicate, we tried making black bean burgers of our own. They have turned out well repeatedly, even though the last time we had them the texture was not crisp but seemingly undercooked, similar to mashed potatoes tightly compacted. But the flavor is pretty good, with a subtle spice and deep bean flavor. It’s the toppings that count here, and I used tomatoes, avocado mayonnaise (vegan), and rainbow chard leaves. Sweet potato fries complement this dish perfectly, and if you want to make your own, here’s how to do it! But Ryan & I were lazy that night and used sweet potato puffs from the frozen food section of our grocery store. Still delicious! Especially with our avocado mayo (just an avocado mixed into vegenaise spread). View full article »

A gluten-free vegan meal that anyone can enjoy!

Fresh Basil & Walnut Pesto

I love meals that have a story, with ingredients that seem to walk around telling their history. The cherry tomatoes came from St. Louis, grown in the backyard of Ryan’s parents and given to us while we were visiting last week. Ryan’s mom excitedly picked them out of her garden and put them in a brown bag to ripen. The basil, fresh and fragrant as I carried it around the library and downtown, came from the Farmer’s Market here in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The walnuts were bought in the bulk aisle at Ozark Natural Foods, during their spectacular Owner Appreciation Weekend. With a lot of olive oil and excitement, Ryan & I combined the ingredients and added this pesto to brown rice spaghetti from Field Day Organics.

After years of trying, I finally got my potato to “puff” properly!

My Puffy Potato

The first thing you must know about me & potatoes is that I’m Irish, and quite predictably in love with potatoes. Every kind of potato! Pierogi, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes & brown sugar, french fries, hashbrowns, shepherd’s pie – it’s all tasty to me, but when I really crave potato, I usually bake one.

I found recently that using Yukon Gold potatoes for baking was far tastier and effective than using Russet potatoes which are, I’ve been told, the traditional baking potato. Whether that’s true or not I don’t know, but my last several Yukon Gold baked potatoes have come out perfect!

For vegan toppings, I use Earth Balance soy-free buttery spread, with either peas or a combination of black beans, tomatoes, cheeze, avocado, and corn. If I’m going all out, I briefly cook the black beans and corn in oil with spices like red chili pepper flakes. This has become one of my favorite lunches, and really easy to prepare while doing other Ripples-related work.